Those Who Inherit the Earth
by FrostedPurpleIrises91
Summary: AU, 9yrs after the Cell Games. Earth is nothing more than an anarchic ghost and all other life in the universe is being steadily eradicated. Amongst the struggling remnants of humanity, a mother and daughter strive to survive. One night, their issue evolves into a totally different predicament that just so happens to be their darkest nightmare. T for dark themes and language.


**Hello and thank you for even clicking on this thing and giving it a go! So I've been a fan of the DBZ fandom for a few years now but I just haven't had enough inspiration and ideas for a story I could make for the lovely fandom... This particular story is about a year old but I put it on hiatus for a few months because of that thing called Life and I was kinda creatively stagnant. But I've been working on this a lot more now that my gusto has been revived for the fandom and this story! **

**So about the story... It is set in an alternate universe, specifically if Cell had won the Kamehameha clash with Gohan, killed the Z-Fighters and didn't destoy the Earth (as to why he didn't destroy it, I'll reveal it in time). There will be OCs used in it. The OCs will be focused on in the first few chapters (alongside Cell himself) but some other canon characters will become prominent as the story goes on and builds up. There will also be some sensitive and dark material in the story and I wanted to forewarn everyone about it. I realize this story may not be everyone's cup of tea and I have no problem with that realization. I encourage constructive criticism; mainly because I know this story will not be perfect and if I screw up on something, be it a misspelling, some canon character acting OOC, or some other discrepancy, please let me know! I won't lash back at you inappropriately and I will take your advice and use it to better whatever was wrong. I don't bite (unless if you're a troll dicking around for cheap lulz) so don't be afraid to comment/review or provide any sort of feedback!**

**Anywho, please read and enjoy the story! And I hope that you will stick around to read more chapters in the future!**

**DISCLAIMER: I do not own Dragon Ball Z! The only things I own about this story are my OCs and the plot.**

Chapter 1 Android's Domain

"_Rain, rain, go away, come again another day…_"

The little sliver of sunlight tried its hardest to push through the thick, brooding, gray cloud cover but it was a lost effort. The evil-looking cumulonimbus stretched its hand further across the sky, enveloping the less oppressive but equally concealing clouds. Now it almost looked like it was evening although it was one in the afternoon. Then again, it very often looked that way.

A flash of bright light snaked across the sky as lightning illuminated the underbelly of the clouds. Merely a few seconds later, an ear-shattering boom sounded loudly and proudly. Another few seconds after the thunderclap, a few droplets of rain started to sputter out from the pregnant clouds above.

"_Please, rain… Come again another day. Why today?_"

The rain would only ignore the child's inner thoughts. Almost as if the elements were intent on annoying her, the water fell to the earth in a heavier volume.

The small Human shook her head, sifting her messy, black hair. The raindrops fell onto her face, gently rinsing her dirt-caked, freckled visage, cleansing her of the filth that covered her exposed skin. Her lips parted and she tilted her head up to the sky. A few stray droplets of water managed to slide into the part and down her throat, drinking down the rain. Her eyes shut and she took a moment to enjoy it. The cool sensation she felt on her skin from the water was simply divine. To her, it was like a privileged person eating and sucking on a block of rich, succulent chocolate.

She was shaken out of her refreshing trance when another clap of thunder made her eyes snap open in an instant. Her heart jumped in her chest, caught off guard by the loudness of the thunder. When her little reverie was ended abruptly by the noise, she suddenly remembered her mother.

The eight year old girl leapt off a block of concrete and quietly began to walk down the ravaged, deserted path that was once a bustling city street. She looked down at her feet, seeing that her makeshift shoes were becoming soiled and moistened by the rain. Sighing and rolling her eyes, she pressed onward; rags didn't make the best footwear.

"Mommy?" she called out. "It's raining. Are we going to stay or leave?"

She and her mother had travelled to what remained of North City in order to trade and barter with the pockets of humanity that resided there. As expected with all the other major cities and megalopolises on Earth, they were all reduced to rubble and metal skeletons. Weeds and small trees were sprouting from the cracks in the asphalt and the cement as nature slowly but surely began to take over the artificial jungle. Weathered and rusting cars stood turned over or torn to pieces in the streets, forever unmoving and yet full of coagulated gasoline. Skeletons and Human bones that littered the ground weren't a rare sight either to these cities and were quite common.

She had known these apocalyptic conditions for her entire life. Unfortunately, she was born and raised in such deplorable conditions. She had never known the warmth and security of a privately owned home where she could live happily with her mother. To her, such a luxury was a fairy tale. Sometimes, she couldn't believe that only a decade ago, people ran rampant and the world was such a busy, colorful and often overwhelming place.

"Mommy!" she said, walking further down the road. "Do we have food for the next few days?"

She could hear two soft voices murmuring. Undeniably, one of them belonged to her mother. The other voice belonged to that of the older woman whom her mother was trying to barter with earlier. The girl narrowed her eyes, her pupils dilating slightly as her dark brown irises shrunk. Silencing her footsteps, she halted when she made it to the outside of the woman's house which was once a pawn shop before she had taken residence in it.

"In addition to giving you four loaves of bread in exchange for the finely painted ceramic plates you have, I will tell you what I know about this safe house," the middle aged woman said.

Orey nodded her head, agreeing to the terms of the trade. She opened the burlap bag she had sitting on the ground next to her and fished through it. A few seconds later, she pulled out the plates.

"I would very much appreciate it, Willow," the younger woman said. "My daughter and I could afford to have some new supplies and even shelter for a few days would work wonders for us. Thank you very much for being cooperative."

"You're welcome," the other lady smirked. "The last person who wanted to trade with me did so with a gun up to my head." She walked over to a meager, wooden table where the loaves of bread sat. "When he took what he deemed was necessary, I shot him in the back. I warned him I was a good shot and he thought he could outrun me. He was wrong."

"I try to make a trade as honest as possible. Although a lot of people have lost their dignity and manners while the world crumbled nine years earlier, I pride myself over the fact I am one of the few decent souls left."

"You and I both, Orey… You and I both." She gathered the bread up in her arms and walked back over to Orey's side. "There you are."

"Thank you." Orey put the loaves into the bag that held the plates.

"Let me ask you a quick question, if I may…"

"Certainly."

Willow sat back down in her seat across from her nomadic guest. Her blue eyes suddenly hardened and her whole posture became tense and serious.

"Have you heard any news regarding the whereabouts of the Devil?" she questioned. "The beast has not been seen around these parts for a few years now. Our connections and news to the other cities rely upon the travelers passing through."

"No, I have heard nothing," Orey replied. "My daughter and I had been residing in the countryside and staying away from the cities unless we need to gather more supplies. Things are perhaps more so quiet and isolated in the country. We get all our updates from the places we visit."

Willow frowned heavily.

"So, nothing about him?" she concluded.

"I'm sorry, no," said Orey.

"I don't know if it's a good thing or not considering there has been no news or sightings of him. It would be nice if he permanently left this once peaceful and beautiful world. Maybe we could rally what people are left on Earth and rebuild our civilization."

"I don't see it happening. As long as the monster breathes and his heart beats, we will always be hiding and struggling to survive like rats. But I don't know if he can even be killed… If our world was destroyed in a matter of a mere hours by him, what can be done against him?"

"The safe house is the only hope for now."

The little girl had quickly grown weary of eavesdropping. Not only that, the rain was starting to chill her skin uncomfortably. She took a few steps closer, entering Willow's shelter.

"Mommy, we got bread?" she said.

Both Orey and Willow ceased speaking to one another to give their full attention to the child. They saw the girl advanced towards them, sodden and looking a little tired.

"Yes, we did, Cixi," her mother answered. Orey outstretched her arms to her daughter. "This nice lady gave us four loaves of bread." Cixi sat in her mother's lap and rested her head against Orey's warm chest. "It's a lot of bread but we still have to save up on it?"

"You couldn't get any meat?" Cixi drawled. "I've been really hungry for it lately."

"If I had any, I'd offer some to your mommy, angel," said Willow. "I'm a baker, not a butcher. I haven't had a good piece of beef or pork in a few years myself."

"I was very lucky to have a doctor examine her after she was born," Orey explained, "and he said she was born with a curious case of anemia. These scarce conditions that we live in don't make matters better for her condition either."

"I'm very sorry to hear about that misfortune. She's blessed to even be alive in this hostile place. Hopefully, at the safe house, there'll be plenty of fresh meat to keep Cixi's strength up." Willow paused for a moment. "Child, did you see anyone outside? Did anyone follow you back here?"

"No, ma'am," said Cixi. "I didn't see anyone."

"The Devil has ears that can allow him to hear our very heartbeats. I don't know if he knows about this sanctuary but it's best to at least keep quiet about it… From what I heard, it's in West City. It's an underground complex. They have bountiful food, clothing, capsules, candles… They might just have whatever you need there. They also have a sick ward and there'll obviously be some doctors there that'll be giving vaccines and medicines to anyone who needs them."

"West City?" Orey said. "Isn't that where Capsule Corporation used to be based before..?"

"Yes, indeed. It would only make sense if you think about it. It was such an important place before the destruction. Very naturally, people still ought to gravitate around it…"

"It is quite a ways away… I don't know if I can make it with my little one. Do you think that there might be other sanctuaries that are closer to this city? It would be a much greater convenience for us."

"I wish I could answer that. Honestly, the one rumored to be in West City is all I know of. Personally, I'm happy where I am. I have my gun and supplies. There is also safety in numbers here. I do have neighbors and we all pitch in to help one another." Willow folded her hands together. "Orey, why don't you settle here with us? It must be horrifying and daunting raising a child out in the countryside alone."

Cixi closed her eyes and exhaled softly. Orey wrapped her arms around her daughter and kissed the crown of her head. The forty-year old woman sorrowfully shook her head at Willow.

"That is a tempting offer and I must thank you again for your kindness," she declined. "But I don't like residing in these abandoned cities. I was born in a small village and I lived there my entire life. I don't mean to offend you but I prefer the rural areas. I actually feel safer and more at peace there. My daughter and I only come to the city for necessities."

Willow ran a hand through her graying hair. She looked genuinely disappointed at Orey's disapproval but she respected her opinion. Making war or igniting conflict with the remnants of her race was not in her agenda.

"I see," the eldest female present said after a moment of silence. "I will respect your reasons and wish. I certainly hope you come back soon. I have plenty of wheat growing in the lot across the street and that makes lots of fresh bread." She looked over Orey's shoulder, seeing that it was still raining outside. "Won't you at least stay until the front blows past?"

"We don't mind travelling through the elements," Orey debated, standing up. She was still holding Cixi in her arms. "I hate to trade and run but we must be on our way. We have much ground to cover."

"I suppose that's understandable as well. Just please be careful… A month ago, a family of four was brutally murdered by some bandit that skulks around along a road up north. He killed them and stole all of their goods. I remember I gave them some bread too…"

"Thank you for your concern, Willow. Cixi and I will heed your warning and stay away from the north. We had plans of heading east either way. But since you said the safehouse is in West City, perhaps we will head west after all." With an available hand, she grabbed the bag that held their food. "Goodbye. I'm sure we'll meet again if we decide to stay in close proximity to this area."

"Farewell, young ladies. I wish you safe travel and good thoughts. And I especially hope you don't receive the death sentence of meeting the Devil in your journey."

Orey nodded her head. Without saying another word, she turned her back on Willow and walked out of the ruined building. As the rain drops fell on her head, she walked along still holding her little girl close to her chest.

(…)

The mother wore a concerned look on her face as she glanced at her daughter. Since they had left what remained of North City a half an hour earlier, Orey was still carrying Cixi. She seemed weak due to her condition. It would flare up from time to time and make her frail and occasionaly unfit to travel very far. There were times when Orey was forced to resort to carrying her child oftentimes for many miles when the anemia wracked Cixi's body.

Cixi's affliction was a very curious case of anemia indeed. In fact, it was a condition that Orey was absolutely certain her daughter was the sole carrier of due to its disturbing and mystifying symptoms. True, she had suffered from a deficiency of iron in her blood but this version of mineral deprivation had been embedded into her very psyche. This meant that when her iron levels had hit low levels, she had changed emotionally and psychologically. Orey knew that she had to find some source of protein for her daughter soon. If not, her commonly mild-mannered, placid daughter would morph into someone who operated on baser instincts. She would become irritable and aggressive for as long as she was deprived of her iron.

"I'm sorry, angel," Orey shook her head. "I know you're very hungry. We'll stop soon and then take a bite to eat."

"But I need meat," Cixi asserted. "You told me that when I was born, the doctor said I had anemia. That means I need to eat meat and drink milk to get better. We don't have any of those things!"

"I know… You just have to hang in there."

"I don't know why I get so angry and mean when it happens."

"_Just soldier on and live with it, angel__,_" Orey thought. "_That's all we can both do. If I could do something about it and cure it, I would've done anything to do that..._" Then she opened up her mouth to speak out loud to her child. "That's just the way you were made."

"But why do I chase animals when I get really hungry?"

"Because food is very hard to come by, Cixi. People sometimes kill and eat each other so they can survive. Thankfully, we've never done that nor will we ever do such a thing."

"That's what happened to Daddy, huh?"

Orey shut her eyes and exhaled through her nose. Even reflecting on Cixi's father was such a painful, heart-wrenching process. Often, she chose to forget about him as much as possible so she wouldn't be reduced to tears.

"You told me he was killed by a gang of robbers when I was two," Cixi went on. "Did they eat him after they killed him?"

"Baby, I don't want to think about it," Orey couldn't hold back a sniffle and some tears. "I never did find out what happened to him. Since we haven't seen him in six years, I can assume he was killed by the thieves. I wanted to stay with him to help him…" She shook her head as her heart splintered. "But he told me to run away to save you. He was a very brave man but it cost him his life."

Cixi rested her head against her mother's collar bone. She gripped the front of Orey's shirt.

"I hate the Devil," she said with surprising venom in her voice. "If he didn't destroy everything, no one would be unhappy! I wish he'd just die!"

The rain didn't cease its fall to the ground since it had first started. A low rumble of thunder sounded from the clouds. Orey continued on without any hassle, being quite the seasoned veteran of hardships.

"I know you do," she whispered into her ear. "No one could ever love him either. He's nothing but pure evil."

"But when will good beat evil?" Cixi wondered. "You said good always wins in the end."

"I wish I could answer that question but I can't. I'm sorry, angel… For now, all we can do is hunker down and pray. In the end, somehow, some way, he will pay for every single wicked thing he did."

(…)

Once upon a time there was once a beautiful, oceanic planet that was colored of the purest cerulean. One massive saltwater sea had engulfed the entire planet which was speckled green with miniscule islands that had lied within the never ending body of water. When one stood on these isolated sanctuaries, they were greeted by warm, tropical sunshine and a refreshing, soft feeling of white sand beneath their feet. If they had plunged into the waters, they could swim for hours amongst the colorful, alien coral reefs which housed many different kinds of harmless, vivid and odd-looking fish species.

On this planet, which was once called Hydros, there dwelt a proud yet tranquil race of fish-like humanoids. The Hydrosians were master artisans and engineers who built grand, opulent, palace-like cities amongst the shallow waters of their world. Although they had made their debut to the public universe only a century earlier, they had much to contribute to the other worlds and races around them. Already, many other planets had demanded Hydrosian crafts and pieces of artwork.

They were staunch patrons of the arts and pacifism; warfare and conflict was almost taboo to even discuss. Carving a statue out of a block of coral was much more acceptable than crossing blades with another soul. The fires of combat was seen as infantile and barbaric in their eyes.

Unfortunately, for these artists, their aversion of combat had cost them greatly. Yet even if they did dapple in the ways of the warrior, they would still be left completely helpless and defenseless against a foe that was unseen but had utterly obliterated them in no time. Within a matter of moments, their entire civilization had been decimated. Every single person and creature that had resided on Hydros had simultaneously perished. The last thing they saw was a giant, bluish-white orb that had swallowed up the sky and then no more.

Where the marine orb had once stood, there was nothing more than rock that had comprised of Hydros' crust, mantle and core. Now it had been reduced to something that resembled an asteroid field. It was almost as if it had never even existed.

Amidst that field of debris and planetary rubble, there hovered a figure in the vacuum of space. He was a rather strange looking man, being colored green and encased in a durable armor that would remind one of an insect's chitin-composed exoskeleton. Jutting from his shoulder blades there were a pair of black, pointed, sharp-looking wings. What little skin he had exposed excluding his speckled armor was a pale alabaster color, looking almost deathly and sickly. His pink colored irises reflected sated yet sullen and wicked glee. Surrounding this knight of terror and destruction was a flaring, golden aura that flickered like a monstrous ball of fire.

"_I preferred a fight of some sort,_" he thought to himself. "_But that's what I get when I obliterate a world full of artists and craftsmen. I'd much rather raze a planet that has warriors that fight with bows and spears._"

The bio-android's aura died down and dissipated utterly a few moments later. He folded his arms across his broad chest and he studied the chaos that he had been the sole cause of.

"_As much as I enjoy wiping out entire civilizations that had taken many millennia to reach their zenith, it does get a little tiresome after doing so for nine years,_" he continued to confide in himself. "_It's also such a pity that since I had incinerated that wretched child, his father and those fools, I have not had the pleasure to combat with anyone that equaled their power. Sometimes I almost regret killing them… At least they put up a good fight._ _I'm stuck in a universe full of the weak._" Cell stretched the muscles in his neck and wrinkled his nose. His icy gaze narrowed as he continued to look at Hydros' ruins. "_I'm still somewhat glad I decided to spare that miserable mud-ball that is my homeworld._ _It's nice to have a scarred but standing memorial to my greatness where I can return to and rest after a lovely excursion across the stars._" He smiled. "_I have not been there for a week or so. Perhaps I will head back home and check up on the status of my subjects. Maybe they'll fight in a gladiatorial match for my amusement. Or, they'll just run away screaming like they always do every time I meet one of them. Can't say that I blame them though…_"

Cell extended his left pointer and middle finger. He placed the tips of the two fingers on his forehead and focused his energy into the technique he was about to employ. In his mind's eye, he envisioned Earth. He rooted out the planet's unique energy signature amongst all the cosmic interference and the signatures from other planets within proximity to him.

A minute later, as if it was magic, he vanished before the naked eye.

Literally a few seconds later, Cell found himself gazing upon the crowning jewel of his empire of annihilation. With a smirk and a throaty chuckle, he flew towards Earth and penetrated its atmosphere.


End file.
